Kiribati: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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| GDP_nominal_year = 2023

| GDP_nominal_per_capita = {{increase}} $1,989<ref name="autogenerated3"/>

| Gini = 27.8

| Gini_year = 2019

| Gini_change =

| Gini_ref = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/gini-index-coefficient-distribution-of-family-income/country-comparison/ |title=Gini Index coefficient|publisher=[[The World Factbook]]|access-date=24 September 2024|url-status=live}}</ref>

~~| Gini_ref =~~

~~| Gini_rank =~~

| HDI = 0.628

| HDI_year = 2022

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The name is pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɪr|ɪ|b|æ|s}} {{respell|KIRR|i|bass}}, as {{lang|gil|-ti}} in the [[Gilbertese language]] represents an {{IPAblink|s}} sound.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kiribati Country Profile |url=https://www.commonwealthofnations.org/country/kiribati/ |access-date=2023-10-06 |publisher=[[Commonwealth of Nations]] |language=en-GB }}</ref> Similarly, the name of its people, the I-Kiribati, is pronounced {{IPAc-en|iː|ˈ|k|ɪr|ɪ|b|æ|s}} {{respell|ee|KIRR|i|bass}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=i-Kiribati |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/i-kiribati |work=[[Oxford Learner's Dictionaries]] }}</ref>

[[File:FMIB 53006 Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands.jpeg|thumb|Map of the Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands, 1890.]]

The name ''Kiribati'' was adopted upon the country's independence in 1979. It is the Gilbertese rendition of Gilberts, the plural of the English name of the nation's main archipelago, the [[Gilbert Islands]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Reilly Ridgell |title=Pacific Nations and Territories: The Islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia |edition=3rd |location=[[Honolulu]] |publisher=[[Bess Press]] |year=1995 |page=95 }}</ref> It was named {{lang|fr|îles Gilbert}} ([[French language|French]] for 'Gilbert Islands') in about 1820 by Russian admiral [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern|Adam von Krusenstern]]<ref>In his authoritative pioneer {{lang|fr|Atlas de l'Océan pacifique}} (1824–27).</ref> and French captain [[Louis-Isidore Duperrey|Louis Duperrey]],<ref>{{lang|fr|Voyage autour du monde exécuté par ordre du roi, sur la corvette de Sa Majesté, {{noitalic|La Coquille}}, pendant les années 1822, 1823, 1824 et 1825, sous le ministère et conformément aux instructions de S.E.M. le Marquis de Clermont-Tonnerre... et publié sous les auspices de son Excellence {{abbr|Mgr|Monseigneur}} le Cte de Chabrol ..., Par M. L.I. Duperrey...}}, 8 volumes in 4° et 5 volumes in-folio, Paris, [[Arthus-Bertrand]], 1826–1830 (Imprimerie de [[Firmin Didot]]).</ref> after the British [[sea captain|captain]] [[Thomas Gilbert (sea captain)|Thomas Gilbert]]. Gilbert and captain [[John Marshall (Royal Navy officer, born 1748)|John Marshall]] sighted some of the islands in 1788, while crossing the "outer passage" route from [[Port Jackson]] to [[Guangzhou|Canton]].<ref name="jps.auckland.ac.nz">{{cite journal |url=http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_70_1961/Volume_70%2C_No._1/Post-Spanish_discoveries_in_the_central_Pacific%2C_by_H._E._Maude%2C_p_67-111/p1 |author-link=Henry Evans Maude |last=Maude |first=H. E. |title=Post-Spanish discoveries in the central Pacific |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=1961 |volume=70 |number=1 |pages=67–111 |access-date=29 July 2020 |archive-date=27 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227235057/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_70_1961/Volume_70,_No._1/Post-Spanish_discoveries_in_the_central_Pacific,_by_H._E._Maude,_p_67-111/p1 |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Macdonald|1982}}<ref name=LifeMagazine1944-05-22>{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bk8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA91 |title=The Gilberts & Marshalls: A distinguished historian recalls the past of two recently captured pacific groups |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |date=22 May 1944 |author=Samuel Eliot Morison |access-date=14 October 2009 |author-link=Samuel Eliot Morison }}</ref> Both von Krusenstern's and Duperrey's maps, published in 1824, were written in French.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Douglas |first1=Bronwen |last2=Govor |first2=Elena |title=Eponymy, Encounters, and Local Knowledge in Russian Place Naming in the Pacific Islands, 1804–1830 |journal=The Historical Journal |date=September 2019 |volume=62 |issue=3 |pages=709–740 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X19000013 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X19000013 |language=en |issn=0018-246X}}</ref>

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The passing trade gave rise to European, Indian, Chinese, Samoan, and other residents from the 1830s; they included [[beachcombing|beachcombers]], castaways,<ref name="maude">H. E. Maude, ''Beachcombers and castaways'', The Journal of the Polynesian Society 73: 3 (1964) 254–293</ref><ref name="ICC">{{cite book |last1= Campbell|first1= Ian C.|title=Gone Native in Polynesia: Captivity Narratives and Experiences from the South Pacific|year=2014|publisher= Praeger |isbn = 978-0313307874 }}</ref><ref name="BC">{{cite book |last1= Milcairns|first1= Susanne Williams |title=Native Strangers: Beachcombers, Renegades and Castaways in the South Seas |year=2006|publisher= Penguin Books |location= Auckland}}</ref><ref name="RC">{{cite book |last1= Ralston|first1= Caroline|title=Native Strangers: Grass Huts and Warehouses: Pacific Beach Communities of the Nineteenth Century |year=2014|publisher= University of Queensland Press|isbn = 9781921902321 }}</ref> traders, and missionaries. Dr [[Hiram Bingham II]] of the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]] (ABCFM) arrived on [[Abaiang]] in 1857. The Roman Catholic faith was introduced on [[Nonouti]] around 1880 by 2 Gilbert islanders, Betero and Tiroi, who had become Christians in Tahiti. Father Joseph Leray, Father Edward Bontemps and Brother Conrad Weber, Roman Catholic [[Missionaries of the Sacred Heart]] arrived on Nonouti in 1888.<ref name="MKT">{{cite web|last= |work=Mauri – Kiribati, Tawara and Gilberts |title=Tourism Authority of Kiribati |date=2019 |url=https://visitkiribati.travel/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/4Tarawa-Guide-2019-final.pdf|access-date=30 March 2024 }}</ref> The protestant missionaries of the [[London Missionary Society]] (LMS) were also active in the southern Gilberts. On 15 October 1870, Rev. Samuel James Whitmee of the LMS arrived at [[Arorae]], and later that month he visited [[Tamana, Kiribati|Tamana]], [[Onotoa]] and [[Beru (atoll)|Beru]].<ref name="SJM">{{cite book |last1= Whitmee |first1= Samuel James |title= A missionary cruise in the South Pacific being the report of a voyage amongst the Tokelau, Ellice and Gilbert islands, in the missionary barque "John Williams" during 1870|year=1871|publisher= J. Cook & Co, Sydney }}</ref> In August 1872, [[George Pratt (missionary)|George Pratt]] of the LMS visited the islands.<ref name="LMS">{{cite book |last1= Lovett |first1= Richard |title= The history of the London Missionary Society, 1795-1895|volume =1|year=1899|publisher=H. Frowde, London }}</ref>

[[File:Declaration of a protectorate on Abemama by Captain Davis, 27th May 1892.JPG|thumb| Declaration of a protectorate on [[Abemama]] by Captain [[Edward H.M. Davis|EHM Davis]], 27 May 1892.]]

In 1886, an [[Anglo-German Declarations about the Western Pacific Ocean|Anglo-German agreement]] partitioned the "unclaimed" central Pacific, leaving [[Nauru]] in the German sphere of influence, while [[Banaba|Ocean Island]] and the future GEIC wound up in the [[British Empire|British sphere of influence]]. In 1892, local Gilbertese authorities (an ''uea'', a chief from the Northern Gilbert Group, and ''atun te boti'' or head of clan<ref name="maude2">{{cite journal | last = Maude | first = H. E. | year = 1963 | title = The Evolution of the Gilbertese ''Boti'' | url = http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=3260 | journal = The Journal of the Polynesian Society | volume = 72 | issue = Supplement Memoir No. 35 | pages = 1–68 | access-date = 23 March 2019 | archive-date = 27 January 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190127175542/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/?wid=3260 | url-status = dead }}</ref>) on each of the Gilbert Islands agreed to Captain [[Edward H.M. Davis|Edward Davis]] commanding [[HMS Royalist (1883)|HMS ''Royalist'']] of the [[Royal Navy]] declaring them part of a [[British protectorate]], along with the nearby [[Ellice Islands]]. They were administered by a [[Governor of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands|resident commissioner]] based first on [[Butaritari|Makin Islands]] (1893–95), then in [[Betio]], [[Tarawa]] (1896–1908) and [[Banaba|Ocean Island]] (1908–1942), protectorate who was under the [[High Commissioner for the Western Pacific|Western Pacific High Commission]] (WPHC) based in Fiji.<ref name=BBCtimeline>{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/2944816.stm |title = BBC Timeline:Kiribati |access-date = 29 July 2008 |publisher = BBC |date = 15 May 2008 }}</ref> [[Banaba]], known to Europeans as Ocean Island, was added to the protectorate in 1900, because of the [[Phosphorite|phosphate rock]] of its soil (discovered in 1900). This [[Phosphate mining in Banaba and Nauru|discovery and the mining]] provided a significant amount of revenue, in the form of taxes and duties, to the WPHC.

The conduct of [[William Telfer Campbell]], the second resident commissioner of the Gilberts and Ellice Islands of 1896 to 1908, was criticised as to his legislative, judicial and administrative management (including allegations of forced labour exacted from islanders) and became the subject of the 1909 report by [[Arthur William Mahaffy|Arthur Mahaffy]].<ref>{{cite report |last1=Mahaffy |first1=Arthur |title=Report by Mr. Arthur Mahaffy on a visit to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands |access-date=26 July 2020 |year=1909 |publisher=His Majesty's Stationery Office |location=London |chapter=CO 225/86/26804 |chapter-url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2367/ }}</ref> In 1913, an anonymous correspondent to ''[[The New Age]]'' newspaper described the maladministration of W. Telfer Campbell and challenged the impartiality of Arthur Mahaffy, because he was a former colonial official in the Gilberts.<ref name="AN">{{cite journal|last= Correspondent |title = Modern buccaneers in the West Pacific |url= http://dl.lib.brown.edu/pdfs/1140814207532014.pdf |date= 5 June 1913|journal= The New Age|location=South Africa|pages=136–140 }}</ref> The anonymous correspondent also criticised the operations of the [[Pacific Phosphate Company]] on Ocean Island.<ref name="AN"/>

[[File:Boeing 314 Clipper in cruise.jpg|thumb|[[Boeing 314 Clipper]] in cruise, 1940.]]

The islands became the [[crown colony]] of the [[Gilbert and Ellice Islands]] in 1916.<ref name=brit/> The Northern Line Islands, including Christmas Island ([[Kiritimati]]),<ref>[[Fanning Island]] (Tabuaeran) and [[Teraina]] (Washington Island) were already incorporated in 1888 in BWPT.</ref> were added to the colony in 1919, and the [[Phoenix Islands]] were added in 1937 with the purpose of a [[Phoenix Islands Settlement Scheme]]. On 12 July 1940, [[Pan Am]] Airways' ''[[Boeing 314 Clipper|American Clipper]]'' landed at [[Kanton Island|Canton Island]] for the first time during a flight from [[Honolulu]] to [[Auckland]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.panam.org/explorations/650-canton-critical-stopover|title = Canton: Critical Stopover}}</ref>

Sir [[Arthur Grimble]] was a cadet administrative officer based at Tarawa (1913–1919) and became Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony in 1926.{{sfn|Grimble|1952}}

[[File:Stamp Gilbert Ellice Islands 1939 3p.jpg|thumb|Stamp with portrait of [[George VI|King George VI]], 1939.]]

In 1902, the [[Pacific Cable Station|Pacific Cable Board]] laid the first trans-Pacific telegraph cable from [[Bamfield]], British Columbia, to [[Fanning Island]] (Tabuaeran) in the Line Islands, and from Fiji to Fanning Island, thus completing the [[All Red Line]], a series of telegraph lines circumnavigating the globe completely within the British Empire. The location of Fanning Island, one of the closest formations to Hawaii, led to its annexation by the British Empire in 1888. Nearby candidates including [[Palmyra Island]] were not favoured due to the lack of adequate landing sites.{{Citation needed|date=October 2023}}

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===Independence===

[[File:KiribatiPresidential Residence.jpg|thumb|The Presidential residence, former [[Government House]], [[Bairiki]].]]

The Gilbert Islands gained independence as the Republic of Kiribati on 12 July 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/oceania/ki.htm|title=Kiribati Map and Information, Map of Kiribati, Facts, Figures and Geography of Kiribati -Worldatlas.com |website=worldatlas.com|language=en|access-date=12 July 2017}}</ref> Then, in September, the United States relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited [[Phoenix Islands|Phoenix]] and Line Islands, in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati ([[Treaty of Tarawa|ratified in 1983]]).<ref>Kiribati was then granted sovereignty on [[Canton Island]], [[Enderbury Island]], Birnie Island, Mckean Island, Rawaki, Manra, Orona, and Nikumaroro from the Phoenix Islands; and [[Teraina]], [[Tabuaeran]], [[Kiritimati]], Malden Island, Starbuck Island, Caroline Islands, Vostok Islands and Flint Island from the Line Islands.</ref> Although the indigenous [[Gilbertese language|Gilbertese]] name for the Gilbert Islands proper is "Tungaru", the new state chose the name "Kiribati", the Gilbertese spelling of "Gilberts", because it was more modern and as an equivalent of the former colony to acknowledge the inclusion of Banaba, the Line Islands, and the [[Phoenix Islands]]. The last two archipelagoes were never initially occupied by Gilbertese until the British authorities, and later the Republic Government, resettled Gilbertese there under resettlement schemes.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto">{{cite journal |last= Maude |first= H. E. |year= 1952 |title= The colonisation of the Phoenix Islands |journal= Journal of the Polynesian Society |volume= 61 |issue= 1–2 |pages= 62–89 |url= http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_61_1952/Volume_61,_No._1_%2B_2/The_colonization_of_the_Phoenix_Islands,_by_H._E._Maude,_p_62-89/p1 |access-date= 27 February 2015 |archive-date= 14 November 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221114130302/http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document//Volume_61_1952/Volume_61,_No._1_+_2/The_colonization_of_the_Phoenix_Islands,_by_H._E._Maude,_p_62-89/p1 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 1982, the first [[1982 Kiribati parliamentary election|elections since independence]] were held. A no-confidence vote provoked the [[1983 Kiribati parliamentary election|1983 new election]]. In the post-independence era, [[overcrowding]] has been an issue, at least in British and aid organisations' eyes. In 1988, an announcement was made that 4,700 residents of the main island group would be resettled onto less populated islands. In September 1994, [[Teburoro Tito]] from the opposition was elected president.<ref>{{Cite book |last=East |first=Roger |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5VO4AwAAQBAJ&dq=Teburoro+Tito+25+August+1953&pg=PA274 |title=Profiles of People in Power: The World's Government Leaders |last2=Thomas |first2=Richard J. |date=2014-06-03 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-63940-4 |language=en}}</ref>

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[[File:KiribatiParliamentHouse.jpg|thumb|[[Maneaba]] ni Maungatabu, House of Assembly, 2000.]]

The [[Constitution of Kiribati]], promulgated 12 July 1979, provides for free and open elections in a [[parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[representative democracy|democratic]] republic.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.commonwealthgovernance.org/countries/pacific/kiribati/constitution/|title=Constitution of Kiribati|website=Commonwealth Governance}}</ref>

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===Law enforcement and military===

[[File:RKS Teanoai, during a joint exercise 2019-11-07.jpg|thumb|Police vessel RKS ''Teanoai'', in 2019.]]

[[Law enforcement in Kiribati]] is carried out by the Kiribati Police Service which is responsible for all law enforcement and paramilitary duties for the island nation. There are police posts located on all of the islands. The police have one patrol boat, the {{sclass2|Guardian|patrol boat}} [[RKS Teanoai II (301)|RKS ''Teanoai II'']].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.hazegray.org/worldnav/asiapac/asiapac.htm#5 |title = Pacific Forum class patrol boat |publisher = Hazegray.org |date = 25 March 2002 |access-date = 14 May 2010 }}</ref>

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=== Administrative divisions ===

[[File:CarolinePic-Kepler-Long.JPG|thumb|[[Line Islands]]: [[Millennium Island]] channel between west side of Long Island and Nake Island.]]

[[File:Marakei Atoll.jpg|thumb|[[Marakei]], North Gilbert Islands.]]

There are 21 inhabited islands in Kiribati. Kiribati can be geographically divided into three [[archipelago]]es or groups of islands, which have no administrative functions. They are:

* [[Gilbert Islands]]

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[[File:Map of the Territorial Waters of the Pacific Ocean.png|thumb|upright=1.8|Kiribati with its surrounding EEZs in dark gray, noting the three non-contiguous territories]]

[[File:Kiribati map LOC.jpg|thumb|Map of Kiribati.]]

[[File:Abaiang top view.jpg|thumb|Coconut palms in Abaiang]]

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* [https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/kiribati/ Kiribati]. ''[[The World Factbook]]''. [[Central Intelligence Agency]].

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080607085059/http://ucblibraries.colorado.edu/govpubs/for/kiribati.htm Kiribati] from ''UCB Libraries GovPubs'' (archived 7 June 2008)

* {{curlie|Regional/Oceania/Kiribati}}

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-16431122 Kiribati] from the [[BBC News]]

* {{wikiatlas|Kiribati}}

* ~~[http://www.phoenixislands.org/ Phoenix Islands Protected Area]~~ {{~~Webarchive~~usurped|~~url~~1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20191203203818/http://www.phoenixislands.org/ ~~|date=3~~Phoenix ~~December~~Islands ~~2019~~Protected Area]}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120114110615/http://www.history.navy.mil/ac/exploration/wilkes/wilkes.html Exhibit: The Alfred Agate Collection: The United States Exploring Expedition, 1838–1842] from the Navy Art Gallery (archived 14 January 2012)

* [https://kiribati-data.sprep.org/dataset/birds-kiribati Birds of Kiribati] from [[Conservation International]]